Abstract

In recent years there has been widespread discussionconcerning the purported shift away from Taylorism towards anew production paradigm premised upon techniques of highperformancemanagement (HPM). This paper argues that inseeking to capture the essence of the phenomenoncommentators typically privilege different aspects of themanagement function. For example, some emphasise theimportance of task formulation while others focus heavily onthe management of human resources. Drawing on recent workby Bélanger et al. (2002) it is argued that any construct needsto be to be understood as a composite covering three discretebut related spheres: production management, workorganisation and employee relations. The paper then moves onto consider the principal theoretical debates surrounding theemergent model; namely, the compatibility of HPM with neoliberalorthodoxy; the impact of HPM on productivity; and,finally, the implications of HPM vis-à-vis employees. Thepaper concludes that there is a need for the development ofmore refined analytical tools and similarly the excavation ofdata more sensitive to potential sectoral dynamics.